Black history ‘Important for everyone’
Superintendent: Middletown to expand Black history offerings in its schools
English teacher RuthTerry Walden wants her students not just to learn from history, but to celebrate it.
In recent years, teachers like Walden and students have brought forth concerns that Black history is not taught adequately in schools. That is changing with new state curriculum requirements but experts say more work needs to be done on providing professional development for teachers and to ensure the learning is broad and is for all students.
Teachers like Walden also already have gone above and beyond to ensure that history is not ignored.
“I was an African American woman educated in public schools, and I know what I didn’t get,” said Walden, who has taught at Westhill High School in Stamford for 20 years.
‘Uneven’
In some Connecticut schools, teaching Black history beyond whatever is in the textbooks had largely been done by ambitious teachers and administrators in response to student demands or inquiries, some educators say.
Walden said that when she switched careers 20 years ago to became a teacher, she “was a little confused because there were Black children and Black Hispanic children who had no history of who they were — just nothing — they didn’t know anything.” she said.
“The only thing Black children were learning is that they were slaves,” she said. “They didn’t talk reconstruction after the Civil War or the Black Renaissance in the ‘20s.”
But educators say that for schools to ignore Black history is to ignore American history altogether.
“Black history is the history of the country. It shapes everyone’s experiences and lives: it’s the history of labor and all our institutions, so it can’t be separated out,” said Daniel HoSang, an associate professor of Ethnicity, Race and Migration and American Studies at Yale University and a cofounder of the Anti-Racist Teaching and Learning Collective.
“At this particular moment of crisis, with the pandemic and the events of Washington, Black history and its scholarship provide really important insights in how democratic institutions can be sustained and how we collectively deal with crises as a society,” HoSang said. “Those lessons are important for everyone.”
HoSang said the teaching of Black history in Connecticut schools has been “uneven,” but he believes the future is promising.
‘Identities matter’
In late 2020, the Connecticut State Board of Education approved a high school curriculum, a yearlong course in African-American, Black, Puerto Rican, and Latino studies that will be mandatory for high schools to offer but optional for students to take.
“Identities matter, especially when 27 percent of our students identify as Hispanic or Latino and 13 percent identify as Black or African-American,” Connecticut Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona said in a statement after the curriculum was approved by the state Board of Education.
“This curriculum acknowledges that by connecting the story of people of color in the U.S. to the
larger story of American history,” he said. “The fact is that more inclusive, culturally relevant content in classrooms leads to greater student engagement and better outcomes for all.”
In Middletown, Superintendent of Schools Michael Conner said the district has made plans to expand Black history offerings throughout its schools.
“We just developed a Latinx course and we currently have an African American Studies course at our high school,” he said in a statement. “We are going to grow our offerings at the new Beman Middle School with embedded courses there for our Grade 6-8 students as well.
“By the 2022-2023 school year, these important studies will also be integrated into our elementary schools,” he said. “I’m proud to say that our growing offerings will be deeper, impactful and encompass more than a particular heritage month.”
Michelle LeBrun-Griffin, a consultant for the State Education Resource Center, the quasi-public agency based in Middletown that developed the yearlong high school course, said about 20 high schools in the state already offer some type of course in African American and Latino studies.
Connections
HoSang said the racial makeup of the schools where Black and Latino history is taught should not be significant to whether the issues are taught in the curriculum.
“White students do not benefit in any way from having this history kept from them,” he said. “We need people to be more versed and prepared to engage in these discussions. We’re missing a tremendous opportunity if we don’t expand how these classes are taught.”
HoSang said schools should be preparing students to have the knowledge and background to connect historical precedence to current events — such as the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the subsequent nationwide protests this summer.
Although the state-approved curriculum in Black and Latino studies is only meant for the high school level, advocates say they hope it will be a stepping stone to implementing a K-12 Black and Latino studies curriculum.
“Certainly to have discourse that pertains to the structure of our systems in the United States, like institutionalized racism, structural racism, we want that to be a part of the learning and opportunities for discourse,” said Paquita Jarman-Smith, a SERC consultant who worked on the development of the high school curriciulum.
“Think about the arts: poetry, jazz, music, writing, all of those things being integrated over the course of the semester,” JarmanSmith said. “That’s going to be exciting for our students and motivating.”
This year Stamford officials have piloted a program at all levels — three elementary schools and two middle schools — to teach and incorporate Black history into music curriculum.
“It’s a 12-part educational program that tells the story of African Americans from slavery to present day, with music, narration, video and still images. The program is delivered live using a video conferencing webinar program that allows the students to interact with the performers,” said Stamford Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Natalie McClarty.
“It connects to the curriculum. One of the students in one of the middle schools said, ‘This is like social studies, but it’s music.’”
The program, The Blues and Beyond, is led by professional musicians from different locations who are able to interact with students live through the virtual technology. McClarty said one of the most enriching parts for students is that students get to write their own blues compositions and the professionals take the lyrics of one and put it to music.
“It touches on socialemotional learning and so many avenues trying to help kids be really well-rounded and understanding of how something that came out of an oppression created such a beautiful melody,” she said.
‘The history students learn’
Although some districts have found similar ways to expand supplementary Black history education in all grades, Fran Rabinowitz, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents, said she believes more is needed.
“Back in the days when I taught, (Black history) was only taught during February in Black History Month,” she said. “I think we’ve evolved from there thankfully, but I do believe now we have a need to integrate it more. I think our curriculum needs to be culturally competent and needs to happen preschool up so it’s part of the history students learn, not apart from American history or world history.”
Rabinowitz said she does not believe it’s necessary to start over with new curricula
systemwide, because the existing curricula can be made more inclusive. However, she said she believes it’s the state that should be making the necessary tweaks.
“I do believe it’s needed, but at the same time asking 169 districts to create that is not where we should be going,” she said. “I think we should have a statewide curriculum and I think we’ve shown how you could do that in a course, so I think we could do it in curricula across all areas.”
Martha Brackeen-Harris, a local educational consultant on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion, said she has seen more interest from schools in incorporating Black history materials into class since the summer’s protests than in past years. She said state organizations like the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education have made books and materials on the subject available for years, but there is an increased interest in incorporating them into lessons.
“My hope is it will be used to go more into depth with some of these issues, to bring in primary documents,” she said. “My vision and hope is it would really be a part of a regular curriculum for everyone.”
Brackeen-Harris’ husband, Don Harris, is president of CABE and chairman of the Bloomfield Board of Education. He said to properly implement Black history into schools would require an investment in training.
“Just because you are a teacher does not mean you can teach all elements of Black history or all elements of Hispanic history or culture or that you can even talk about the Holocaust,” he said. “It’s going to require some professional development.”
Walden, the Westhill High School English teacher, said she makes constant professional development a personal priority.
“It requires tireless research and professional development,” she said. “Whatever it is you want to teach your kids, you’ve got to go out and find the professional development available to bring that material into the classroom.”
‘The whole stakeholder group’
Sandra Clark, director of social studies for New Haven Public Schools, told members of the local Board of Education’s Teaching and Learning Committee that the city has many ambitious teachers who have responded to the need for more Black history education in the schools.
“We have the storytellers, we have the writers, we have the film critics,” she said. “Our teachers are very receptive and they oftentimes take the ball and run with it.”
Before SERC approved its high school curriculum, Clark said all but one New Haven high school already offers some type of course in Black and Latino studies.
However, New Haven Board of Education member Dr. Tamiko Jackson-McArthur, who has two children in the school system, said she thinks the approval of the high school curriculum is “one of the best moves I have seen in a long time,” but she has still found herself wanting more from the district’s elementary and middle schools.
“I think right now the issue is that we have a whole bunch of folks teaching (history) and they may not be as versed as others and may not understand the complexities that need to be involved,” she said. “Black history is more than slaves, it’s more than the plantations we had here. It’s very beautiful, it’s made to be celebrated, it’s made to be known.”
Several districts say in recent years they have worked to be more intentional about Black history education.
Danbury’s schools have partnered with New York University to promote equity, with the university working with administrators, early childhood staff and others. During the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years, the district invested in training sessions that delved into restorative practices, gender, gender identity, and implicit and explicit bias.
Part of the work with New York University included developing a protocol to “to ensure that all literature moving forward is reflective of the rich diversity that Danbury offers,” said Kevin Walston assistant superintendent.
In the elementary schools, students read books such as “Martin’s Big Words” and “The Story of Ruby Bridges,” said Kara Casimiro, director of assessment and instruction. The former is about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., while the other is about the first Black child to desegregate an all-white school in New Orleans.
Meanwhile, an African American literature elective was created for the high school.
“This is a course that we are excited to offer at DHS, and we are looking forward to having it run next year,” Casimiro said in an email. “Additionally, as our English teachers move throughout our literature units, they incorporate Black authors and their history.”
For example, English students in their junior year study voices who have been oppressed throughout history, she said.
“From the “Slave Narratives,” to “Unchained Memories,” to MLK, to Langston Hughes, to Ta-Nehisi Coates, students have the opportunity to read Black authors through various points throughout America’s history,” Casimiro said. “They are able to learn about Black history, oppression, and culture through the literature.”
The district audited its U.S. history curriculum in 2018 to ensure it met standards, Casimiro said. The curriculum is “very inclusive” and has students read primary and secondary sources from Asian, Black, Latino, Hispanic, native, and white voices, she said.
With input from students, teachers and district leaders, Danbury created an elective on race and ethnicities that will be available next school year.
SERC consultant JarmanSmith said developing the high school curriculum was at times emotional for the adult staff, especially those who are people of color, recalling on the experiences they had in school and what they hope to see for their children.
“For me as a Black woman who has had this opportunity and this honor to work with so many talented, thoughtful and wonderful historians, educators, legislators — the whole stakeholder group — we have all held the hearts of our students and the aspirations for them to take the course and be empowered,” she said. “We want that involvement of the youth. We want their voice. They are our future and they are the future we want to have justice in their hearts to share.”